Research Article

Plasma and Aorta Biochemistry and MMPs Activities in Female Rabbit Fed Methionine Enriched Diet and Their Offspring

Figure 4

Aorta histology of the different groups of female rabbits. (a) NPC, (b) NPMet (×10 magnification), (c) PC, (d) PMet (×40) PAS staining; NPC ×40 (e); ×100 (f); NP Met ×100 (g, h, i, j, k, l) Masson’s Trichrome staining. M: media; A: adventitia; In: intima. While control aorta shows regular elastic strips with regular intimal border (a, e, f), aorta of NPMet shows intimal thickening (b) and invagination areas, increasing contact surface. In (g, h), the SMCs appear in concentric organization and oriented towards the vascular lumen. We observe a complete disorganization of media elements, fragmented elastic strips, high ratio MEC/cells (), foam cells in media turbulence areas (), and occurrence of noncollagen material and thrombus () (h, i). Intimal infiltration of SMCs, blood elements aggregation against endothelium (), internal elastic lamina fracture, hypertrophy of endothelial cells (dark kernels) (), duplication of internal elastic lamina, amorphous refractive material accumulation (), and endothelial cells hypertrophy (fingernail) characterize the aorta of NPMet.
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